Energy News November 2019
From the Field Photo ‘Somewhere over the rainbow in West Texas’ Terry County Oil & Gas Inspector Charles Buford
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Commission Salutes Its Veterans
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Texas Senate to Exam Water Regs, Cybersecurity & Other Energy-Related Topics During Interim
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Got Oil & Gas Brownfields? Sign up for Commission’s New Brownfields Bulletin
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Want to Learn More About Safe Digging? Request an RRC Damage Prevention Speaker for Your Next Event or Meeting
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RRC Around Texas
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Commissioners’ Corner
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Resources
Upcoming Events Dec. 17, 2019
VIEW MORE RRC EVENTS4
Open Meeting
VIEW OPEN MEETING WEBCASTS4
Austin, TX
RRC Military Veterans Thank You for Your Service Earlier this month, Americans took time to reflect on the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans. In honor of Veterans Day, the Railroad Commission of Texas takes this opportunity to recognize and express our gratitude to 97 employees who are veterans. Thank you for your service! Veterans Day is observed annually on Nov. 11 to honor military veterans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. This American holiday coincides with the end of World War I, which ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
Texas Senate to Exam Water Regs, Cybersecurity & Other EnergyRelated Topics During Interim Groundwater regulation, cybersecurity and eminent domain are among interim charges Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick released recently that may impact the state’s energy industry and Commission operations. These charges are among 116 that will keep Senate committees busy during the interim before the 87th Legislature convenes January 2021. Before then, the committees hold public hearings and evaluate a need for statutory changes. Committees generally submit a report presenting their findings and recommendations a few months before each Legislative session starts. The following are interim charges relating to the state’s energy industry or RRC operations:
Texas Senate Natural Resources & Economic Development and Water and Rural Affairs Committees (joint charges) • Eminent Domain: Examine current law on the balance of private property rights and continued improvement in oil and gas infrastructure. Make recommendations to ensure stability between private property owner protections and emergent oil and gas infrastructure. • Future Water Supply: Examine current laws, processes and water storage options and availability. Make recommendations promoting the state’s water supply, storage, availability, valuation, movement and development of new sources. • Groundwater Regulatory Framework: Study the state’s groundwater regulatory framework and make recommendations to improve groundwater regulation, management and permitting. • Monitoring Charge: To monitor effectiveness of: Senate Bill 698, related to expedited air permit applications, and House Bill 3557, relating to civil and criminal liability for engaging in certain conduct at a critical infrastructure facility.
VIEW SB6984
VIEW HB35574
Texas Senate Business & Commerce Committee • Information Technology: Review the state’s major information technology infrastructure. Examine cybersecurity preparedness and reporting requirements for state and local governments and political subdivisions. Identify opportunities for expanded partnership and coordination between state and local officials. • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Examine current state and local laws regulating unmanned aerial vehicles. Identify any legislative changes needed to streamline regulation to promote commerce and innovation while protecting public safety and the privacy and property rights of Texans.
Texas Senate Finance Committee • Agency Technology: Review current and prospective technology-related purchases and upgrades in state agencies.
Visit the Lieutenant Governor’s website to view all the Texas Senate 2019 interim legislative charges.
VIEW ALL LEGISLATIVE CHARGES4
Got O
Sign up f
The Commission’s available for histor organizations and
RRC’s Brownfields ries about Brownfi oped sites.
A “Brownfield” is a property. The RRC nities across Texas and revitalize area
Oil & Gas Brownfields?
for Commission’s New Brownfields Bulletin
s Brownfields Program is spreading the word about free environmental investigations and cleanups ric, abandoned oilfield sites. To do this, the Commission is asking local governments, non-profit tribes to sign up for our new quarterly bulletin.
s Bulletin will feature up-to-date information on grant funding, upcoming events and success stoields transformed into bird viewing parks, nature reserves, sporting complexes and other re-devel-
a property with real or perceived contamination that hinders the redevelopment or reuse of the C’s Brownfields Response Program provides a great resource for economic development in commus. Participation in the Brownfields Response Program helps protect the environment, create jobs as across Texas.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE BROWNFIELDS BULLETIN4
Want to Safe Dig
Safety is the Commission’s top priorit age Prevention staff is available to spe or meeting to help keep your employe excavation safe.
“We want to educate construction, plu organizations involved in excavation o pipeline damage prevention rules,” sai Damage Prevention Compliance Analy prevent dangerous accidents and bus also can help your organization avoid
Compliance with the Commission’s Un Damage Prevention rules protect publ anyone planning to dig deeper than 16
o Learn More About gging?
ty, and our Pipeline Dameak at your next event ees who are involved in
umbing, city and county on how to comply with our id Ricardo Gamez, RRC’s yst. “This not only helps siness disruptions, but it fines.”
nderground Pipeline lic safety by requiring 6 inches to first make a
Request an RRC Damage Prevention Speaker for Your Next Event or Meeting
free call to 811. That call prompts pipeline operators to mark their underground lines to enable safe digging around pipelines. The Underground Pipeline Damage Prevention rules can be found in 16 TAC Chapter 18 at: https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.ViewTAC?tac_view=4&ti=16&pt=1&ch=18&rl=Y VIEW UNDERGROUND DAMAGE PREVENTIONS RULES4 To request a safe digging speaker, contact Ricardo Gamez at: 512463-3084 or Ricardo.Gamez@rrc.texas.gov .
CONTACT RICARDO GAMEZ4
RRC AROUND TEXAS NOV. 06 Excavation Safety Day NOV. 06 DP Compliance Analyst Cecelia Martinez traveled to El Paso to attend the Paso del Norte Damage Prevention Counsel (DPC) Meeting and Excavation Safety Day event, which attracts over 300 attendees each year. In addition to mock line strike demonstrations, there were demos on electric safety, trenching/shoring safety and line locating.
NOV. 13 GIS Day
NOV. 13 to celebrate GIS Day, RRC staff including Lorenzo Garza demonstrated how to find oil and gas wells, drilling permits and pipelines using the Commission’s GIS Public Viewer. The event was held at Austin’s Central Public Library.
NOV. 17-20 RRC staff including Kari French and Natalie Dubiel attended the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Annual Meeting and Education Conference in San Antonio.
NOV. 17-20 NARUC Annual Meeting
NOV. 20 Corpus District Office hosted energy officials from Japan.
NOV. 20 Corpus Christi Japan Visit
Commissioners’ Corner Chairman Christian notes that the day after he was elected to the Railroad Commission of Texas, it was announced that the largest find of oil and natural gas in history was assessed in West Texas. In the three years since that announcement projected totals for this find have continued to grow. I recently heard a new projection showing that “the Permian Basin holds more than 230 billion barrels of oil equivalent and within this estimate exists more than 600 trillion cubic feet of remaining natural gas resource.” (Citation: RS Energy Group) To put this in perspective, proven oil reserves in the entire United States just ten years ago were 20.6 billion barrels of oil -- less than a tenth of what this projection shows is in West Texas. Texas has the opportunity to make the world a safer and more prosperous place because of the natural resources we have been blessed with underground. And our RRC employees play a crucial role in this historic moment for our country.
Commissioners’ Corner Cont.
Commissioner Craddick spoke recently at the Texas A&M University Kingsville Economic Forum in Kingsville. Craddick met with students, faculty and staff to talk about the Eagle Ford Shale, Texas ports and the incredible impact the oil and gas industry is having on Texa’s economy. She urged students to graduate and consider employment in the oil and gas industry. The students, both undergraduate and graduate, work to put on this economic forum in partnership with the University’s College of Business.
Commissioner Sitton addressed the Next Generation Oil and Gas Summit on Nov. 21. The Summit brings senior decision-makers and industry leaders together to share experiences, discover new ideas and discuss the hottest emerging technologies and solutions in the energy sector. With an aging workforce, overwhelming amounts of data and hundreds of different systems, the world’s leading companies are struggling to solve the most complex problems. Commissioner Sitton focused on exploring the future of oil and gas asset management and how expertise and data unite.
Oil and Gas Production Statistics
View monthly production totals of crude oil, condensate and total oil; and of gas well gas, casinghead gas, and total natural gas.
VIEW PRODUCTION STATISTICS4
Enforcement Actions
The Commission has primary oversight and enforcement of the state’s oil and gas industry and intrastate pipeline safety. View the Master Agreed Orders here.
VIEW ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS4
Public GIS Viewer
The Public GIS Viewer allows users to view oil, gas and pipeline data in a map view.
LAUNCH THE PUBLIC GIS VIEWER4